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Friday, December 26, 2014

Artistic Interpretations "Simply Beautiful"

Photo:  M.Bednar

Artists and poets often consider at least one of the following:  light, composition, moment, time, palette, wonder.  The Holiday season is often a time to reflect upon love, peace, grace - a time to step away from the hard realities that often besiege us daily (whether it be personal or through the ever present 24/7 news) and find inspiration and solace in that which is simply beautiful.

I received an amazing book for Christmas - National Geographic "Simply Beautiful Photographs" by Annie Griffiths.  Google it or click on the images link and you get some idea of how stunning this book is.

For this month's Artistic Interpretations challenge, you may use one of my images or link an image from the above book (we do not have permission to use the photos)  I have also selected a few quotes scattered throughout the above mentioned book and offered them for poetic inspiration as well.  (My accompanying photographs I in no way think do justice to the words but are humbly offered.)

Mr. Linky is provided at the bottom of this page.  Friday is often a hectic day, so feel free to submit late and remember Monday is "Open Link" here in the Garden.


Light

"From within or from behind, a light shines through us upon things, and makes us aware that we are nothing, but the light is all."  Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Beauty if not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart."  Kahlil Gibran

Photo:  M. Bednar


Composition

"Beauty is a form of genius - is higher, indeed, than genius, as it needs no explanation."  Oscar Wilde

"Art consists of limitation.  The most beautiful part of every picture is the frame."  G. K. Chesterson

Photo:  M. Bednar


Moment

"Of which beauty will you speak?  There are many…"  Eugene Delacroix

"Wisdom is the abstract of the past, but beauty is the promise of the future."  Oliver Wendell Holmes

Photo:  M. Bednar

Time

"What was any art but a mould in which to imprison for a moment the shining elusive element which is life itself - life hurrying past us and running away, too strong to stop, too sweet to lose."  Willa Cather

"The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself."  Henry Miller

M. Bednar

Palette

"I cannot pretend to feel impartial about colors.  I rejoice with the brilliant ones and am genuinely sorry for the poor browns."  Winston Churchill

"Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought."  Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

"Spring comes:  the flowers learn their colored shapes."  Maria Konopnicka

Photo:  M. Bednar

Wonder

"There is a road from the eye to the heart that does not go through the intellect."  G. K. Chesterton

"I think the world really boils down to two types of people - those who see shapes in cloud formations, and those who just see clouds."  Danzae Pace

Photo:  M. Bednar


11 comments:

  1. Many thanks for sharing these words and images with us, Margaret. There is much to inspire, and I am sure to be revisiting this post because there is much to learn here about the presentation of art.

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  2. Your photos are exquisite Margaret ~ I hope to return and ponder on the quotes after we finish our shopping today ~ Have a good Friday & weekend ~

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  3. Beautiful indeed, Margaret--quotes and your luminous photos. An excellent challenge as well. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and your art with us all year.

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  4. Love the challenge... I hope you are all resting like we do here.. next week will lend itself to another week mostly off work... Happy Holidays to all.

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  5. Thank you so much Margaret for this wonderful challenge! :) I really enjoyed using your landscape photograph for my inspiration for this challenge. Of course being a landscape enthusiast I really didn't need too much more inspiration than the photo alone to begin with.

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  6. Hey Margaret--mine is super weird and not exactly beautiful, but it is what came to mind thinking about the images. Hope you had a nice Christmas--your son so cute! k.

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  7. This post is beautiful, too, in its images and in its fine balance of images with words!

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  8. mmm
    I so enjoyed this. I worked off two of the quotes without acknowledging them (sorry)--one under "composition" and one under "wonder." They disappeared into the frame, but you will seee them if you seek them. This challenge has endless possibilities! Thank you, Margaret. Happy New Year.

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  9. All of your quotes made me study and think about them more. I especially liked the one by them more Albert Szent-Gyorgyi about discovery.

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  10. This challenge really got me thinking. Thank you.

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  11. So, so many items to chose from right here. I may not make it to the N. Geographic. But I will.
    Thank you. My vote is that you saved the best for last. Mostly I see just clouds and contrails. No wonder I am no artistic. And perhaps not poetic.
    ..

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